trail running

Brian Metzler

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Brian MetzlerBrian Metzler is the Editor in Chief of Competitor Running magazine and Competitor.com. He has run more than 60,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,200 pairs of running shoes, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles and completed two Ironman triathlons. After a career as a competitive high school track runner (1:54.1 for 800 meters) and a walk-on college athlete in the Midwest, he realized his 5K PR (15:36) wasn’t going to get any faster and, after moving to Colorado, opted instead to become a trail runner and, eventually, a pack burro racer. His most proud accomplishments as a runner are his 26-year streak of running sub-60 seconds for the 400 meters (a few of which occurred during the Boulder Road Runners Summer Track Series at Potts Field) and running the 2007 Golden Leaf Half Marathon with his wife, Pam.
He has also played a role in putting many Colorado runners on the cover of national magazines as well as writing about and photographing numerous Colorado races for the past 20 years.

Brian was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner (1999) and Adventure Sports (2002) magazines and formerly a senior editor at Running Times (2007-2012). He has also been a contributor to Runner’s World and served as the senior editor of Runner’s World Trail in 2011-2012. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Boulder Daily Camera. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range (2003, Mountain Sports Press), the co-author of “Natural Running” (2010, VeloPress) and co-editor for Alan Culpepper’s new book “Run Like a Champion.” (2015, VeloPress). Brian and his wife, Pam, and their daughter, Lucy, live in Boulder.

Matt Carpenter

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Matt CarpenterMatt’s passion for competitive running began in high school when he signed up for the cross country team. Over the next 30 years Matt became one of the premier mountain runners in the United States and was considered by many the best high altitude mountain runner in the world. He has run up and down mountains in Europe, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and Tibet.

Matt is the record holder of the fastest times for a flat marathon held at altitude – 2:52:57 at 14,350′ and 3:22:25 at 17,060′. In 1993 he set the still standing course records for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon with times of 2:01:06 and 3:16:39. In 2001 he became the first person to win the Ascent and Marathon on back-to-back days — a feat he repeated in 2007. At the 2005 Leadville Trail 100 mile race he shattered the course record by over 90 minutes to 15:42:59. In 2008 he broke the 31-year-old course record for the Mt Evans Ascent. In his last race, in 2011 at the age of 47, he won the Pikes Peak Marathon for the 6th time in a row bringing his total wins on the mountain to 18 — 6 Ascents and 12 Marathons.

Throughout his career Matt strived to give back to the sport that had taken him so far. He served as the president of the Pikes Peak Road Runners, co-founded the Incline Running Club and managed several races including the Barr Trail Mountain Races on Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run in Manitou Springs. These races raised nearly $100,000 for area high school cross country teams through hugely popular aid station challenges. Matt is now the owner and manager of the Colorado Custard Company in Manitou Springs, Colorado, where he lives with his wife, Yvonne, and daughter, Kyla. He has not run less than an hour a day in almost 3 years.

Simon Gutierrez

/ tramsdell

Simon1Simon Gutierrez is versatile athlete as a three-time member of the USA National Cross Country team, an Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon, and is a seven-time member of the USA National Mountain Team.  He is a three-time World Masters Mountain Overall Champion (2006, 2007, and 2008) and has won the La Luz mountain race in New Mexico a record eight times.  He is a three-time Champion in the Pikes Peak Ascent as well as Mt. Washington Road Race.  Gutierrez is also a mountain representative to the USATF Mountain, Ultra, and Trail Running Council and in 2005 he was named the USATF Mountain Runner of the Year. Now 48, Gutierrez is enjoying a career as a physical therapist in Colorado Springs. 

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

Anita Ortiz

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Anita Ortiz started racing at age 36, building her career in Mountain Running, Ultra Running and

Photo via ultrachixunite.com

Photo via ultrachixunite.com

snowshoe racing, competing in over 200 races and breaking 55 records in just nine years.  She has competed on the U.S. Mountain Running team five times, placing highest U.S. finisher four times. She was the Mountain Running National Champion in 2002 and 2003 as well as the Masters Mountain Running World Champion in 2004.  She’s won the Pikes Peak Ascent three times, setting and holding the record time for five years in 2002 in 2:44:33.  Ortiz was also the National Snowshoe Champion in 2002 and runner-up in 2004.  She was named the USATF Female Mountain Runner of the Year in both 2002 and 2003 and the USATF Female Masters Mountain Runner of the Year in 2004.  A kindergarten teacher and mother of four, Anita is still active in the racing community, serving as Board member for the All American Trail Running Association, the United States Snowshoe Association, and coaching elementary students on the Eagle Valley Elementary Running Team.

 

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

Rick Trujillo

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Rick Trujillo is considered a pioneer in the sport of mountain running, earning his reputation as an

Rick Trujillo 1977-- Pikes Peak Marathon, on the Golden Stairs

Rick Trujillo 1977– Pikes Peak Marathon, on the Golden Stairs

elite and unconventional runner over his long career.  Trujillo enjoyed an early cross-country running career in high school and college, but later preferred mountain running.  He is a five-time champion of the Pikes Peak Marathon, holding the course record from 1973-1982.  He founded the Imogene Pass Run, winning the race several times and holding the course record from 1974-1985.  In 1995, at age 47, Trujillo ascended Colorado’s 54 14,000-foot peaks in record time of 15 days, nine hours, and 55 minutes.  He also won the Hardrock 100 Mile Run (66,000 feet of ascent and descent with average elevation of 11,000 feet) in 1996.  Trujillo has never yielded to traditional training conventions, making his achievements that much more impactful.

 

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

The Colorado Running Hall of Fame Announces 2013 Class

/ runningincolorado
Ultramarathoner Marshall Ulrich

Ultramarathoner Marshall Ulrich

UltraMarathoner Marshall Ulrich, Olympian Lidia Simon among recognized.

DENVER, CO – March 11, 2013 -The Colorado Running Hall of Fame Selection Committee announces the 2013 inductee class: Doug Bell, Nancy Hobbs, Jay Johnson, Lidia Simon, Marshall Ulrich, and Jane Welzel. The Colorado Running Hall of Fame recognizes Colorado residents for their achievement and contribution to the sport of distance running. The class will be inducted into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame on Wednesday, April 10th at the Denver Athletic Club at 6:00 p.m.

Read their profiles:

Doug Bell
Nancy Hobbs
Jay Johnson
Lidia Simon
Marshall Ulrich
Jane Welzel

Read the full press release –>

Nancy Hobbs

/ runningincolorado

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Nancy Hobbs has been running trails and directing running events since the mid-80’s and her articles and photographs about the sport have been published in magazines including Runner’s World, Running Times, Trail Runner, and Ultrarunner.  She is the founder and executive director of the American Trail Running Association, a council member of the World Mountain Running Association, manager of the US Mountain Running Team (starting the women’s team in 1995), and chairperson of the USATF Mountain Ultra Trailrunning Council.  Hobbs lives in Colorado Springs, traveling extensively both nationally and worldwide to support and promote trail and mountain running.europe world open

2013 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Doug Bell

Nancy Hobbs

Jay Johnson

Lidia Simon

Marshall Ulrich

Jane Welzel

Melody Fairchild

/ runningincolorado
photo: MelodyFairchild.com

photo: MelodyFairchild.com

Melody Fairchild was called the greatest high school distance runner in U.S. history. She was the first high school girl in history to break 10 minutes in the 2-mile (9:55.9) and although she struggled initially at the University of Oregon in the mid-1990s, she came away a 3,000m indoor NCAA champion and an Olympic trials qualifier in the 10K. Melody Fairchild was considered a star constantly on the rise from her earliest years, until 2000, when after a disappointing showing at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, her name disappeared from race results for a decade. Fairchild, now 39 and living in Boulder, is rising once again and back at the top of the race results, this time on the trails. In 2012 she made the U.S. Mountain Running Team and went on to the World Mountain Running Championships in Italy, where she placed eighth, helping Team USA earn a gold medal for the first time since 2007. She then helped Team USA win another gold medal at the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge at the Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland. In 2007 she founded the Melody Fairchild Running Camp for High School Girls in an effort to help other athletes overcome the struggles she experienced first-hand in her own running career.Fairchild-500_edit

Ken Chlouber

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(leadvilleherald.com)

(leadvilleherald.com)

•   Helped create the Leadville Trail 100

•   Served as Lake County Commissioner, State                        Representative and State Senator

•   Ran in the annual burro day races in Leadville for over            30 years

•   He has notched 14 Trail 100 run finishes

•   He celebrated his 60th birthday by riding a wild bull

•   Ken commemorated his 70th birthday climbing Mount           Aconcagua in Argentina

Ken Chlouber is the brainchild behind the Leadville Trail 100, an ultramarathon held annually on trails and dirt roads near Leadville, Colorado, through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. First run in 1983, runners in the race climb and descend 15,600 feet (4,800 m), with elevations ranging between 9,200-12,620 feet. Ken and the Leadville 100 are recognized as establishing Leadville as the ultra-endurance capitol of the nation, drawing in elite athletes like Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer. Ken competitively ran the annual Pack Burro Race in Leadville for over three decades as well as racked up 14 Leadville Trail 100 finishes. He has served as Lake County Commissioner, State Representative and State Senator, working to promote the Leadville and Lake County communities.

Ken Chlouber on Mount Manaslu, Nepal in 2012. Photo: John Hill, The Denver Post)

Ken Chlouber on Mount Manaslu, Nepal in 2012. Photo: John Hill, The Denver Post)